Suburban dining discount site takes on Groupon

Naperville-based BunchBite.com is gearing up for a David-and-Goliath battle against Groupon with online restaurant coupons.

BunchBite, which launched in November, has been offering consumers a chance to buy weekly meal deals at Naperville restaurants. But unlike Groupon. BunchBite provides a percentage of the revenues to benefit local not-for-profits.

“We wanted to do something that would get more people into local restaurants and help charities,” said BunchBite founder Ola Ayeni, who also runs Dining Dialog, a restaurant marketing company also in Naperville.

Both restaurants and charities are hurting in the aftermath of the recession as more consumers have cut back on spending. Still, with the holidays, the site is gambling on selling more discounted coupons for meals that can be used as gifts or for shoppers that need a break.

One current offering is a Char-Grill chicken dinner at 40 percent off that will benefit KidsMatter of Naperville. KidsMatter gets about 5 percent of the revenues, said IdaLynn Wenhold, the group's executive director.

“I really believe BunchBite sincerely wants to benefit the not-for-profits,” said Wenhold. “And anyone who wants to offer us an opportunity to receive revenue from their promotions, we'll say yes, as long as it really fits into our mission.”

While BunchBite is starting with weekly deals, it eventually will offer new ones twice a week and, later, on a daily basis, said Ayeni.

To date, about 5,000 users have registered at the site. Consumers do not pay any membership or transaction fees. However, restaurants do pay a participation fee of about 25 percent to the site if the meal deals are sold. If nothing's sold, then the restaurant doesn't pay anything, said Ayeni.

Ayeni hopes to eventually grow the site with more deals from more restaurants around the suburbs and in Chicago. It also plans to work with other charities, including the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Autism Society of Illinois and Naperville Junior Women's Club, he said.

“Our goal is to compete with Groupon, but we see ourselves as becoming a daily deal site for charities,” Ayeni said.

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